


That Time It Just Wasn't The Same Anymore

by kawada_s



Series: Main Universe [11]
Category: Battle Royale - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 14:57:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10467672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kawada_s/pseuds/kawada_s
Summary: Still upset over his beloved umbrella being broken, Kyoichi seems to be in a permanent state of sadness. Shuya attempts to cheer him up and even Satomi tries to get him out of his miserable state, but Ryuhei of all people turns out to be the one with answers.





	

“We are gathered in this classroom today to put a faithful friend to rest, Desmond. He was an umbrella that was always there to keep his best friend out of the rain, to cheer him up with his smile when he was feeling down, and was always there for him when no one else was. May he be remembered for the great umbrella he was instead of the tragic end he faced. Kyoichi Motobuchi, do you have any words?”

Shuya Nanahara stepped back from the bookshelf in the corner of Class 3-B’s classroom, the top shelf containing a shrine of some sort for Desmond’s memory. A box housed the remains of the umbrella, and various pictures of Desmond filled the shelf, and Kyoichi had even gotten a plaque engraved to place on the shelf. Shuya turned to him and gently put a hand on his shoulder, watching as he gently wiped his eyes with a tissue.

“Whenever you’re ready, Motobuchi,” Shuya said quietly. Kyoichi walked forward, shrugging his hand away as a took a deep breath, preparing himself to speak.

“I… I still have no words, but I will try to say something to nice to give him a proper send off with. Desmond, you were a loyal friend right to the end, and without you, things won’t be the same anymore,” Kyoichi sobbed, and with that, Desmond’s mini-funeral ended. Shuya waved goodbye to Kyoichi, told him to stay strong, but he barely paid attention, his eyes fixed on the Desmond shrine instead.

When Kyoichi decided to finally look away from the Desmond shrine to go and have his lunch and wallow in sadness, he turned around to find Satomi Noda apparently waiting for him, but she didn’t exactly look happy. If anything, she looked more like she was about to go into the dentist’s office, and talking to Kyoichi would be the same as getting teeth pulled. The two had never exactly been friends and as time went on, had become rivals, vying for the top spot in every test and assignment, losing pretty much everytime to Kazuo Kiriyama, who had to put in no effort at all. Still, they persevered.

“What do you want?” Kyoichi asked her, dabbing his eyes with a tissue. Satomi held out a thick stack of papers to him, and he looked at them nervously, wondering if they were some type of attempt to sabotage him. That was the last thing he needed right now.

“Yukie suggested that some worksheets might be able to cheer you up – you know, get your mind off the umbrella thing,” Satomi said to him, sounding less than enthusiastic. Yukie _had_ basically forced her to come over and give him the stupid worksheets, claiming that the two understood each other. Satomi still did not get that – just because the two were nerds did _not_ mean that they understood each other.

“No, Noda. It’s just not the same anymore,” Kyoichi said sadly. At this, Satomi raised an eyebrow. Kyoichi loved worksheets, and would do them rain, hail or shine! Apparently, it now seemed as if he loved Desmond more than worksheets, though it seemed absolutely impossible.

“Well, you do know you probably could have fixed the umbrella,” Satomi said with a sigh. She absolutely refused to acknowledge that the umbrella had a name.

“It’s just not the same anymore,” Kyoichi repeated, and with a loud sob, he left the classroom.

Satomi watched as he left, feeling conflicted. On one hand, she wanted him to get out of his slump just so he could shut up and the class could go back to relative peace and quiet (she knew it wouldn’t last for long though, knowing her class), but on the other hand, she was kind of hoping he would stay in that state for awhile longer, as awful as it sounded. If Kyoichi was so preoccupied in drowning in his own sorrow to study, she’d have one less person to compete for top of the class with.

She took a seat at her desk, deciding that her friends would understand if she didn’t end up joining them for lunch. She grabbed her books and promptly began to study, already imagining her name at the top of the board. Only time would tell.

\---

As soon as school ended for the day, Shuya went to go find Kyoichi so he could begin phase two of what he had mentally dubbed ‘Operation Cheer Up Kyoichi Motobuchi.’ He had told his friends during the day about his plan, which he considered almost _guaranteed_ to work and had even invited them all along, but to his sadness, the majority of them couldn’t come. Yoshitoki had detention (he’d gotten it on purpose to get out of what he could see as being a disaster of an afternoon), Hiroki had some martial arts thing on (his exact words – he wasn’t really the best liar), and Yutaka said he had to go home and wash his dog (he didn’t have a dog, but Shuya didn’t have to know that). Still, Shuya was sure it would succeed. At least he had Shinji with him.

Shinji didn’t exactly know what had happened, but when Shuya had invited him along to join ‘Operation Cheer Up Motobuchi’ he had completely frozen. Shuya had taken this as a yes, and since he had been unable to come up with a well-crafted lie to get out of the situation, he was now walking to the mall with Shuya and Kyoichi. It was obvious his friend had good intentions doing this, but he doubted anything at the mall could possible manage to wipe the miserable look off Kyoichi’s face.

“So, Motobuchi, do you come to the mall often?” Shuya asked, and Shinji decided at that moment to zone out – this attempt to converse with Kyoichi would no doubt be a failure. Kyoichi looked over at Shuya and simply gave him a shrug, having no idea what to say. He had barely ever even spoken to Shuya, and if he hadn’t helped him put Desmond to rest, he probably would have thought this whole outing was some sort of trick.

“Not really. It’s just not the same anymore,” Kyoichi sighed, staring down at the floor. Shuya looked over at him and wondered how he could possibly save the conversation. He thought about bringing up something about math or worksheets, but he didn’t know much about either topic, and figured that Kyoichi would just become annoyed by his lack of intelligence when it came to those two things.

As he continued to think of ways he could save the conversation, he secretly hoped Shinji could jump in and add something, but there was little likeliness of that happening. Shinji was more focused on looking around at the passing stores for some type of escape. It was during this process that he saw… _the store_ up ahead, Shuya continuing to lead the two in the direction of it. Shinji immediately knew upon seeing it that this would not end well.

The store was painted a dreary, dark shade of green, which would have made it not stand out at all if it wasn’t for the giant sign above the floor. Occasionally, the sign flashed, reading out the name of the only product they sold: UMBRELLAS. The display windows were filled with umbrellas of various sizes, patterns and colours, some of them rather fancy. Shinji had thought that Shuya had decided to bring to Kyoichi to get his mind off the Desmond situation, not make it worse.

“Oh, uh, Shuya, I just have to go in here for a minute,” Shinji said suddenly, pointing to the store to his left without looking to see what it was. “I have to pick up something for my mother. I’ll meet up with you later.”

Shuya gave him a nod and continued on with Kyoichi, continuing to head in the direction of the umbrella store, a fact that Kyoichi had not realised yet. Shinji disappeared into the shop as fast as possible, deciding he would stay there until he was sure that Kyoichi’s meltdown was over. The store he’d ended up picking wasn’t too bad, he observed as he walked in. Signs bombarded him, telling him that the store had the best bargains in town. With a shrug, Shinji began to look through the bargain bin, wondering what he would find. Hopefully, there would be no umbrellas.

When Shuya and Kyoichi reached the umbrella store, Kyoichi did not freak out as Shinji expected him to. If anything, he just seemed defeated. Shuya was still determined to cheer him up, however, so he dragged him into the store and shot him a smile, informing him that there’d be the perfect umbrella for him somewhere in this shop. There had to be. There were _hundreds_ of umbrellas in the shop.

“Hey, Motobuchi, look at this one!” Shuya exclaimed after several minutes of searching. “This umbrella seems pretty cool – it has a flashlight built into it. Everyone needs something like that in their lives.”

Kyoichi looked over at Shuya, who was flicking the umbrella’s flashlight feature on and off. By accident, he flashed it in Kyoichi’s eyes, and the boy groaned and turned away, immediately hating the umbrella more than he had already. The flashlight feature just seemed more annoying than anything, and the umbrella was just so… _normal-looking._ It could definitely not compare to Desmond.

“No, Nanahara. It just isn’t the same anymore,” Kyoichi let out a sigh, then slumped back down on the floor. Shuya put the umbrella back carefully, thinking for a moment about buying it for himself, before reminding himself he was here to look for an umbrella for Kyoichi, not go umbrella shopping for himself. _Still,_ he thought to himself as he left the aisle, _I should come back for it another day. It is pretty cool…_

He picked up another umbrella a little while later. It looked rather simple, the umbrella completely black, no patterns whatsoever, but it was good quality. Maybe Kyoichi would want an umbrella that would just blend into the crowd now? He picked it up, noticing a button on the handle, and curious, Shuya pressed it. When a knife came out of the handle, he jumped back, almost dropping it. He decided that the umbrella was definitely not the one for Kyoichi, asked the store assistant for help putting the knife back in it, and promptly went to look for something else.

At the back of the store, on the wall, were the store’s most special umbrellas. Sure, they were expensive, but someone like Kyoichi would be able to afford them, and a super cool umbrella would probably cheer him up. Shuya carefully read all the signs that informed him about what made each umbrella so great, trying to find something, anything, that would stand out. Then, right in front of his nose the whole time, it hit him, the perfect umbrella for Kyoichi. It was as if it had been simply _made_ for him.

“Hey, Motobuchi, look at this one! It’s perfect!” Shuya waved the umbrella around, trying to get his attention. “This umbrella has a _calculator_ built into it! Isn’t that awesome?”

Kyoichi didn’t seem impressed at all by the umbrella, but he didn’t seem sad either. Instead, his face darkened as he pulled himself off the floor, and Shuya couldn’t help but wonder what he could have possibly done for him to give him a look like that.

“Nanahara,” Kyoichi began, deadly serious, “are you implying that I need to use a calculator to do mathematics?”

“Uh… um…” Shuya began, not too sure how to salvage the conversation, “I thought you liked math, so it would be the perfect umbrella for you...”

“Do you know who I am, Nanahara?” Kyoichi said, looking at Shuya as if he were an idiot. “Do you? Do you?”

“Yeah, you’re Motobu- oh, never mind,” Shuya mumbled, putting back the umbrella. Kyoichi simply sighed and shook his head, wondering where all the intelligent people had gone these days. Even _Ryuhei_ would never insult him by implying that he needed a calculator to do math!

Shuya went back to searching for another umbrella for Kyoichi, face still red from embarrassment. He should have known that Kyoichi would take it personally. When something could be seen as a potential stab at his intelligence, Kyoichi was always offended. He made a mental note to stay away from any other umbrellas that could be related to education, figuring that it was the safest option in order to prevent Kyoichi getting mad at him again.

He was beginning to lose hope completely when his eye caught the most extravagant umbrella he had ever seen in his whole life. It even had a large touch screen set up beside it, it playing a video that explained it’s amazing features. Shuya waited for the video to go back to the beginning again, and watched in awe at the images on screen. This was _exactly_ what Kyoichi needed to cheer him up, for sure. It would completely change his life.

“Motobuchi!” Shuya called out, dragging the miserable boy over to look at the video, “this is absolutely fantastic! It’s a umbrella that plays disco music and flashes lights when you open it!”

Kyoichi did not seem impressed. He just shrugged at the video and took a seat on the ground, a smile falling from Shuya’s lips again. There was no way he would be able to find an umbrella better than that. For the first time in a long time, he thought he was on the verge of giving up, and while he hated to say it, call ‘Operation Cheer Up Motobuchi’ an utter failure.

“It’s not Desmond…” Kyoichi simply commented. Shuya stepped away from the video and gave him a small nod, wondering how he had been so stupid. How had he thought it was going to be _that easy_ to replace Kyoichi’s umbrella?

He figured that he would leave, go home and listen to Yoshitoki once he was out of detention tell him ‘I told you so’ once forced to tell him about how much of a failure the operation was, but he remembered he was supposed to wait for Shinji as soon as he got to the exit. He decided to give him a quick text, try to tell him without explicitly telling him exactly not to bother coming, shooting a short glimpse back at Kyoichi, who, even after Shuya said he had to go, just remained on the floor, looking mournful as ever.

 **Shuya Nanahara:** hey, are you still at that bargain store?

 **Shinji Mimura:** my mom said I had to come home after I got the stuff. sorry. Good luck with Motobuchi.

Shuya just nodded when he read the message, putting his phone away. He wanted to believe Shinji, he really did, but now that he had realised how much of a failure ‘Operation Cheer Up Motobuchi’ was, he had also realised that his friends had deserted him as fast as possible to get away from the train wreck before it truly began. He couldn’t bring himself to be mad at them, though. They kind of did have the right idea.

With one final look at Kyoichi, who still was sitting on the ground, Shuya decided to leave the umbrella store. Hopefully, Kyoichi would feel better soon. He’d done all he could.

\---

Rather fittingly, the day after ‘Operation Cheer Up Motobuchi’ failed, a storm came. Rain erupted from the skies, lightning flashed, and thunder crashed down all afternoon, making everyone rather eager to rush home and relax. Kyoichi simply stared out the window for several minutes after the bell went, the last to leave the classroom. Without Desmond there to protect him from the harsh conditions, going home seemed absolutely torturous.

He dragged himself through the hallway, looking absolutely miserable, watching as the rest of the student body walked out with their umbrellas. At first, he felt kind of jealous, but then he reminded himself that those umbrellas were absolutely boring, and nothing like Desmond. Shuya briefly came up to him, saying he’d let him borrow his umbrella, but Kyoichi refused, simply stating, ‘it’s not the same anymore.’ It was all he seemed to say these days.

Kyoichi stopped after that. He just stared as everyone else left the school, laughing, joking, as the rain got heavier and the thunder got louder. After about ten minutes, the hallway was seemingly empty, the only sound being his own tears. He was pathetic, absolutely pathetic, he knew that, but without anyone around to laugh at him, it seemed okay for just a moment or so.

“Oh, for fucks sake,” Kyoichi stopped mid-sob at the sound of the voice. Ryuhei Sasagawa. Exactly who he wanted to see at this moment. Wasn’t everything bad enough already?

“What do you want?” Kyoichi’s voice shook, and while he hated himself for it, he couldn’t stop it. Slowly, he turned around, Ryuhei walking towards him, a hand behind his back. Great. He was going to get beaten up. Couldn’t Ryuhei see he was pathetic enough already? He felt awful for thinking it in this moment, but he wished Yoshio hadn’t messed with Ryuhei, ending with the former bullied boy untouchable. Then, he would probably be after him instead.

“To shut you up. That’s the only reason I’m doing this, okay?” Ryuhei snapped. He thrust his hand forward and Kyoichi shut his eyes tightly, expecting to be punched in the face, but instead was greeted with Ryuhei’s annoying laughter. “Motobuchi. Open your eyes.”

Slowly, still terrified this was some sort of trick, Kyoichi did as Ryuhei said. In Ryuhei’s hands, much to Kyoichi’s absolute shock… was Desmond. With wide eyes, he immediately went to grab it, letting out a shriek of absolute joy, but Ryuhei put his hand behind his back again. He threw Desmond on the ground, and grabbed Kyoichi’s arm, pulling them out of sight.

“What are you doing?!” Kyoichi shrieked. Ryuhei looked at him, mouthing ‘shut up’ to him. Nervously, still worried this was all some type of trick, he tried his hardest to be quiet. The two peeked out at the hallway, it completely empty, but they could hear footsteps in the distance.

Mitsuko Souma walked down the hallway. In the direction of Desmond.

Kyoichi almost raced out to stop her, but Ryuhei held him back. They watched as Mitsuko picked up the umbrella, a smirk on her face. As she began to walk away with it, a Flip/Side song blasted from the umbrella, and with a shriek, she threw it on the floor and ran away, like a cat that had fallen into a bathtub. Ryuhei immediately began to laugh, and Kyoichi soon joined him.

“… that’s what you get for touching other people’s umbrellas!” Kyoichi shouted out, running to pick up Desmond. He turned to Ryuhei, a giant smile on his face, thanking him over and over.

“It’s no problem… I mean, shut up. I only did this because I wanted you to shut up,” Ryuhei said dismissively.

Kyoichi skipped down the hallway with his new-old umbrella, his happiness restored. Ryuhei just watched him, willing the stupid smile on his face to go away. It didn’t mean a thing. It didn’t, really.

At least, that’s what he’d keep telling himself.

 


End file.
